The War of the Worlds

Author: H. G. Wells

Published: 1898

Rated I for invasion of the deadly kind and incineration of humankind.

Monsters are invading Earth—

We can’t stop them. We can’t hurt them.

We can’t even slow them down…

A thrilling, yet nerve-wracking, action-packed story that’s inspired films, radio drama, and comic-book adaptations, H. G. Wells has created what’s considered a great sci-fi epic.

Deadly Martians have invaded the planet and they seem to want more than domination. Beginning in England, the account of the Martians is taken by a man that’s barely one step ahead of them. Large and capable of incinerating people, he’s struggling to come to terms with the fact that they may win and the Earth is doomed.

H. G. Wells. Just wow! I’ve heard so much about this story and I’m so ecstatic that I finally got to read it! I’ve already read The Time Machine (review here) and The First Men in the Moon (review here) but this is the one I’ve heard the most about in my life, especially about the radio drama that caused so many families and such to take shelter, thinking the world was actually being invaded. Completely nuts. Of course, I’ve also seen the film and can’t wait to tackle the Apple TV+ series that’s being done.

Tenor

The differences in the book from the movie are completely different and I have to say, while they are nearly dead-on the same, I like the novel better. The copy that I read is in two parts, which I didn’t know the novel was initially done in, so awesome, and it’s also unabridged, which is even more awesome. The world and scenery are broken down and so fast. Like a bug to a windshield, the Earth being the bug.

While containing strong science logic, I did enjoy the overwhelming amount of non-stopaction. I was nearly out of breath for the main character. That being said, the emotional attachment—fear, anger, sorrow—seemed to be lacking. When so much is happening so fast, I guess I get it, but I just wasn’t getting any emotional and therefore I wasn’t feeling very much about the character or others. It just comes out more mechanical, step-by-step. *shrug*

Rocking’ Roy’s Rage n Romance

However, getting that off my chest, this was like an episode of The Twilight Zone, still rendering this fecking cool. The Martians were freaky and really gave me some creeps. Deadly and awesome with this otherworldly invasion. Two things that pleasantly go together for me. It’s a front-row seat to an alien invasion and one of the best ones by far. Truly chilling, frightening, as it should be.

Overall

This book rates the highest so far from the books I’ve read from Wells. What a sci-fi genius! Completely out of this world. I definitely recommend this book. I’m surprised it’s not taught in schools. Worth the read, definitely. You love aliens and world destruction? Right here.

Quotables:

“And before we judge them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction we wrought, not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior race.” (p. 5)

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Published by Kat J.

Bacon lover. Glazed donut eater. Book reader. Part-time praying mantis. Pretty sure, I'm an alien adopted by humans, but who knows? Overall, I'm currently a small town human that's just working towards that breaking moment and then it's just the rest of my life.
View all posts by Kat J.